Friday, 29 March 2013

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Tuesday’s high-handed – or rather
jack-booted – solution to protests by Boston Business “Improvement” District
have cost that pathetic organisation a friend that it ought not to have lost.
One of the founder director appointments comes from Boston Stump, whose
representative was Carol Taylor – co-incidentally an Independent Boston Borough
Councillor. But
not a BID director any more. In
an e-mail to the BID Chairman “Obersturmbannführer”
Alan Ellis, she condemns the decision to use police and town rangers to exclude
protestor Darron Abbott from Tuesday’s annual meeting – calling it “abhorrent,”
and something that should never have happened. “Mr Abbott should have been
allowed to come in, and then if any disturbance had occurred we could have
acted accordingly. You said to me that the decision to exclude him was made in
the afternoon – but as usual you and Mr Armstrong (Niall Armstrong, the BID
manager) made that decision without consulting other directors. I was
also informed that this year's Xmas market will be on 29th November
and 1st December. St Botolph's Xmas fayre is the following weekend.
This should have been a team effort between the two, thus promoting a very
festive few days which included St Botolph's. May I remind you that 'The Stump'
is still the biggest tourist attraction for Boston? The very poor attendance of other directors
was unacceptable, and at least two of the absentees very rarely turn up for
regular meetings either. I have discussed my decision with Father Hugh (Reverend
Doctor Hugh Jones) and Graham Stewart-Smith (the Parish Administrator) and they
are in agreement that there is no longer any point for representation of St Botolph's
Church on the board of Boston BID.”

It seems that senior members of Boston
Borough Council are falling all over themselves to bask in the glory to be had
from apparently reducing incidents of anti-social drinking in the town. The
council claims that a new policy of removing public seating from anti-social
behaviour hot spots has seen complaints fall dramatically. Queuing up to offer
their quotes are Councillor Mike Gilbert, portfolio holder for community
development, who says that said reported incidents had reduced by half between
August andDecember in public areas
where drinkers congregated were “targeted.” Step forward council leader Pete Bedford, to
add that there had also been a reduction in street drinking since the Ingram
Memorial area was opened up to the Market Place. And last – and by all means
least – Councillor Derek Richmond portfolio holder for the town centre, chipped
in to say said there had also been increased police activity to deal with
street drinking … with a number of arrests.
The
decision to remove public seating was very much a smokescreen. More
than twenty benches have been removed – purportedly after complaints – but we know of several where there was no consultation with
local people as to whether problems occurred or not. What did benefit the
council, though, was to get rid of benches that needed regular inspection,painting, maintenance and all those other
things one associates with street furniture. The result?Perhaps a diminution of anti-social behaviour
– but certainly a much larger saving of money for the cash-strapped council.

In the previous item we mentioned
Councillor Derek Richmond – a man with more responsibilities than you can shake
a stick at. Another of these is car
parking, and we note with interest that the man who is often so quick to blame
any individuals or groups that he can find for problems rather than Boston
Borough Council, has now locked his sights on people who park their cars – and
don’t pay the council for the privilege. According to a local “newspaper”
report he blames
drivers who use private or free car parks for a projected loss of
£91,000 from the council’s budget. Disability campaigners were singled out for
a special mention, as their apparent selfishness in challenging the
introduction of charges for blue badge holders delayed them for three months –
losing the council income. In the same
way that the government feels we should share the pain by footing the bill for the political incompetence that led to the
collapse of the banks, and wrecked the housing market, Councillor Richmond is
quoted as saying: “Thank goodness we increased charges and introduced
blue badge charges; otherwise we would be way down.” Amen to that.
From now on, we intend always to park in Boston Borough Council parks – and to
make sure if there is one with a dearer tariff nearby that we use it in
preference to a cheaper alternative. We
hope that the rest of our readers will do the same – apart fromany councillors or borough council staff who,
of course, are allowed to park free of charge.

We note that UKIP leader Nigel Farage is to
visit Boston next month and will tour the town ahead of a public meeting at
Wyberton Sports and Social Club. Among the issues he plans to talk about is the
effect of immigration on Boston. Although politics is a serious business, we were
amused by the photograph on the Boston
Standard website – where Mr Farage has what appears to be a disembodied
hand on this shoulder.

It reminded us of a scene from that classic Hammer movie– “Doctor
Terror’s House of Horrors” which saw Christopher Lee in a similar
predicament! We agree that a helping hand is useful for a politician, but isn’t
this taking thinks a little too far?

Talking of Boston and immigration, we note
the latest figures in the national press this week. Among the reports, the Daily Mail said that nearly 120,000
Romanians and Bulgarians have already moved to Britain despite not yet being able
to work freely in this country. Data from the 2011 census said that migration
to Britain – at a rate equivalent to 30,000 a year – began as soon as the two
countries joined the EU. “Census figures gave an official figure of 988,123
Eastern European citizens present in the country in March 2011 – including
588,082 Poles, 104,676 Lithuanians, and 73,208 Romanians. Around one and a half
million people from the eight Eastern European countries that joined the EU in
2004 are thought to have lived and worked in Britain at some stage. The census
showed the highest
concentration of Eastern European citizens in any town in Britain was in Boston,
with 10.7 per cent of the population are Eastern European passport-holders.

But the figures that the Mail produced (above) Showed that
Boston was not alone. Nearby Peterborough was 6th in the migration top
ten on 7.5%, and neighbouring South Holland was tenth, with 5.9 per-cent.

We mentioned last week the pointlessness of
petitions which either fail to attract many signatures, or which fall by the
wayside due to insufficient promotion. A
long time ago, Boston Borough Council announced the introduction of online petitions,
and what has happened since has scarcely set the town alight. Currently, there
are no-active
petitions. And here’s the score to date …

click to enlarge photo

T

he page was last updated in July last year, and tests to
see if it was working properly almost outnumber the petitions. Is it just a
case that Bostonians don’t care? We hope not – as there is so much to care
about.

One such thing is the development and regeneration of Boston.Towns around us such as Bourne and Spalding
seem to be forever improving – and now Sleaford looks set to join them. Supermarket giant Tesco has confirmed that it
is pressing ahead with plans for a new store, which could lead to £100 million
pounds worth of redevelopment and up 1,000 new jobs. The proposal is part of
wider regeneration plan to redevelop “The Maltings” - Europe's largest at risk
heritage site – which already has planning permission and funding for 204
apartments, 24 houses – plus restaurants and shops. North Kesteven’s Chief
Executive Ian Fytche said: “"Such a strong expression of investor confidence sends a strong
message that Sleaford is somewhere to do business and gives us a boost
in pushing forward with our broader regeneration vision.” Whither Boston? Or should that be wither Boston? Around five years ago we were promised an £80
million development of the West Street area with plans for the a 60,000 sq. ft.
department store, a food store, eight "major space units," 17
additional units of various sizes, a new "riverside restaurant
quarter," a 700 space "gold standard" car park, more than 100
new "city-style apartments," an hotel and a new "iconic"
pedestrian bridge linking to the town centre. Then the company planning it fell
flat on its face. What do we have to look forward to now?Unspecified plans to turn the Assembly Rooms
into a “modern entertainment venue” which have just been put back for a third time
since Boston Borough Council flogged it off after years of deliberate civic
neglect rendered it too expensive for the public purse to repair. Other places
have something to look forward to; the hope that things will improve and that
better and more varied shops will enhance their towns.But not, it seems, Boston.

Even the image of Boston as somewhere where
there are interesting things to see and do is gradually diminishing. The latest
edition of Lincolnshire County Council’s quarterly magazine lists what it calls
“The essential guide to what’s on in Lincolnshire for Spring 2013. In Boston,
this amounts to a “Where’s Wally” children’s activity on Boston Library on 10th
April – but you’d better be quick, as it only lasts an hour! Never mind. On its
front page, the Boston Standard promises
a guide to “what to do during the Easter Holiday.” Most of it involves going
elsewhere than Boston – but if you’re on the lookout for something really different,
you can get hypnotised, hire a skip, buy some new double glazed windows, get
your eyes tested, or visit a dentist. Not so much a guide, really as just a list
of people daft enough to advertise for no particular reason.

Mention of Lincolnshire County Council
brings us neatly to a new blog that has appeared in recent months. Because they’re
a lot smarter that we are in Boston, it is called Oculus Lindum- subtitle: “An eye on the goings on in
Lincolnshire.” This translates as Lincoln Eye! It’s written by a gentleman named
Peter Barton, a local government officer for the last 15 years of his working
life, who dangles such interesting buzzwords as “self-interest, sleaze,
corruption, and jobs for the boys” among the subject material. It’s worth a read
and you can find it by clicking here

Yesterday’s photographs of a Boston Town
Ranger helping the BID keep unwanted visitors away from the company’s annual
meeting struck a chord deep in the memory banks of some of our readers.

Yes, quite a lot of you – like us, old enough to remember
the Beano comic – were struck by the similarity between the star of the BID AGM
and the much funnier cartoon character Wilfrid, one of the stars of the Bash Street
Kids. Incidentally, now that Boston BID is struggling to find
directors, could we offer a couple of nominees that they might wish to consider
– local farmer Richard Tater … known to
his friends as Dick …and Boston shoe
repairer Jack Boot– after
all the BID should get on well with a load of cobblers.

We’re off for a few days now. Have a
great Easter. We’re back again on Wednesday 3rd April

But you can write to us at any time at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your
e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

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About the author

is written and edited by retired Lincolnshire born writer and broadcaster Malcolm Swire, who was brought up in London, where he began his career in journalism.
In the 1960s he joined the Boston Standard before returning to London to write for the UK’s national news agency, the Press Association – then based in Fleet Street.
He returned to Lincolnshire –where his family history goes back more than a century – in various public relations roles, before becoming a founder member of BBC Radio Lincolnshire,where he created the station's Go for Gold appeal,which raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for local charities.
Over the years, he read the news, presented programmes and retired from the BBC as the station's Programme Organiser and Deputy Managing Editor.
He started the Boston Eye blog in February 2007 and has vowed to continue until Boston Borough Council's leadership is all that it should be!
He has dug in for a long wait!